BOSTON -- A former middle school student at the Pike School in Andover claims one of his teachers initiated a sexual relationship that continued after he graduated and was enrolled at the Groton School, according to a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday by the now 34-year-old man.

"Very confusing for a 15-year-old kid," the alleged victim said Thursday about a relationship he claims began in the fall of 1992 with a now 70-year-old Newburyport woman, Judith Elefante.

He agreed to speak to The Sun on condition of anonymity.

His suit claims Elefante, in her former role as his teacher at the Pike School, showered him with special attention and gifts before moving on to sex.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court, names 16 defendants, including the Pike and Groton schools and 10 individuals who either still work there or have left. Criminal charges cannot be filed because the statute of limitations has expired.

Elefante could not be reached for comment Thursday, as her number is unlisted.

Boston attorney Carmen Durso said Elefante continued to maintain control over his client even after he graduated in 1993 from the Pike School, a private school for prekindergarten through grade 9. Once enrolled at the Groton School, Elefante mailed him letters every day, the suit alleges. There are also allegations of sexual activities happening inside his dorm room.

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As a football player, the alleged victim said he never traveled on the bus with his team after a road game. Instead, he'd be picked up by Elefante, where his suit alleges she'd drive him to various public parking areas where the two would have sex.

The suit claims he spent his first few years of high school becoming more and more "emotionally and physically overwhelmed by the defendant's constant sexual demands, even suffering physical discomfort and injury as a result."

Durso, whose law practice specializes in sexual abuse, said his client initially tried contacting the Pike School and Groton School himself about two years ago. A different lawyer attempted to work with the schools to negotiate an out-of-court settlement and an agreement to acknowledge that there was a problem.

"The schools basically blew him off," said Durso.

Durso said one of the biggest admissions of guilt is the fact that in a letter to the Pike School community last month, Headmaster John Waters wrote that he responded in 2011 to the allegations by confronting Elefante.

"She confirmed that their relationship continued after he left Pike and that, in fact, the relationship developed into a sexual one," Waters wrote.

The Feb. 21 letter goes on to state that Waters immediately fired Elefante, although it does not acknowledge Durso's charge that sexual relations between his client and Elefante began at the Pike School.

Durso said the school only disclosed the fact Elefante admitted to her role in an inappropriate relationship after he announced his client would file a civil suit.

Pike spokeswoman Karen Schwartzman, who runs a Boston-based public relations firm specializing in crisis management, said Thursday that when the matter was first raised two years ago, the alleged victim's former attorneys "were quite clear the sexual activity began after the student graduated from Pike."

"It's news to us that a claim is being made asserting he had sexual relations while a student at Pike," she said, adding that when the school questioned all of Elefante's colleagues, no one reported hearing any such allegations.

"That's not to say it didn't happen, but nobody has ever brought that attention to us before," Schwartzman said.

The Groton School has not drafted any similar letters. Elefante was never employed by Groton, but Durso said she was known to the school due to her role as a secondary-school counselor at the Pike, meaning she helped students at schools like Pike gain admission to schools like Groton.

Once his client started classes at Groton, Durso said, Elefante started visiting the school. In an interview the victim said the only other person who knew of the alleged relationship was his roommate, who had previously walked in on Elefante and himself having sex.

The alleged victim claims there were weekends he'd spend with Elefante away from campus when he never had to tell school officials his whereabouts. The school, he said, had a tradition of students shaking the hand of his or her dorm parent each night as a form of checking attendance.

"I'm not making these check-ins when I'm at Groton," the victim said. "I'm not coming back on the weekends like I'm supposed to."

Durso said these types of revelations illustrate Groton's culpability. With each year, the alleged victim said he began to feel closer and closer to Elefante, "to the point of her talking about how we'd have a future together."

Groton School Headmaster Rick Commons issued a statement Thursday stating that "while Ms. Elefante was never an employee of Groton School and we were unaware of any abuse, we are deeply concerned about any allegation of sexual abuse, particularly involving children, and we will cooperate fully with authorities in any investigation of this matter."

Durso's client would drop out of Groton and enroll at Andover High School. The relationship with Elefante allegedly ended at around the time he turned 21.

Durso said another alleged Pike School victim is ready to come forward in support of his client's claims.

In the next few weeks, he said, all defendants will be served with papers. A discovery phase will begin and depositions will follow. It's still unclear what monetary damages his client will seek.

"We invite anybody who was harmed by this woman to contact us," said Durso.

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